Taking Long Time to Issue License, FAA Alludes to SpaceX Violations

The FAA responded to SpaceX's accusations (photo: dock. SpaceX)

JAKARTA – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded to the complaint letter issued by SpaceX. According to the FAA, SpaceX does need to be fined for the violations the company has committed.

Regarding the slow handling of problems or licensing, the FAA explained that this happened because SpaceX had to operate at the highest level of safety. Moreover, the company owned by Elon Musk has been operating for decades.

"They've been around for about 20 years and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety," said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker at the US House of Representatives Hearing, quoted from Reuters. "That includes adopting a program (safety management system)."

Whitaker emphasized that SpaceX had committed a very fatal violation, namely launching a rocket without permission twice. One of the launches carried the Satria-1 broadband satellite or PSN Satria owned by the Indonesian government in June last year.

Meanwhile, regarding the delay in the fifth Starship launch schedule, the FAA blamed the company. Whitaker explained that SpaceX failed to complete the sonic boom analysis of the previous launch within the specified time.

"The delay in the launch of Starship has to do with SpaceX's application submission and not disclosing that they had violated Texas and federal law in several respects, and that was a requirement for obtaining a permit," Whitaker said.

On the other hand, SpaceX still blames the FAA. The company denied Whitaker's claims during the House Hearing. In fact, SpaceX said that "Every statement he (Whitaker) made is untrue."

SpaceX has not provided further response to Whitaker's claims. However, after the company was fined $633 thousand (IDR 9.5 billion) by the FAA, the company stated that they were the safest launch service provider.